Monday, September 28, 2015

smh : "Infrastructure Australia forecasts in its audit this year that between 2011 and 2031 demand for public transport will rise by 55 per cent in Sydney and an average of 89 per cent across all capital cities.

"In 2011, the cost of delays on roads in the six largest capital cities was $13.7 billion," Infrastructure Australia estimates. "This figure is projected to grow by around 290 per cent to $53.3 billion in 2031, in the absence of appropriate strategies including integrating land use and transport planning, new road construction, additional public transport investment and the introduction of demand management measures"."

Congestion is just one of many costs that are borne by society in general, while auto, sprawl, and oil profits make profit. This called externality. And when society pays the cost, it is called subsidy.

Greens' Safe Climate Bill

Travelling with a light footprint
Australia's cities and suburbs are increasingly being built around cars, not people, and more of our intercity travel and freight is going by road or air instead of rail. In a world where peak oil and climate change are converging, this has to change fast.
We have to redesign our cities for people instead of cars, with urban villages connected by fast, efficient and convenient buses, trams and trains, cycleways and pedestrian paths. We have to give ourselves real alternatives to flying between cities. We have to end the subsidies to fossil fuel based transport. We have to think a few steps into the future, instead of repeating the same old mistakes of the past. ReadMore [pdf]